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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Timmins Likes Pudding Stone

A 10-ton mosaic rock, discovered in the bush about 60 kilometres west of Timmins, has found a new home in Flintstone Park on Rea St. N.

Larry Robichaud, who made the geological find while camping west of the Groundhog River in Reeves Township a year ago, said this product of volcanic process is quite unique for Northern Ontario and has drawn the interest of the Geology Department at the University of Toronto.

"My first impression was that it looked like a block of cement with lots of rocks in it," said Robichaud, who noticed it just off a bush road in Reeves Township when he was camping by himself for a week last August. "I started looking at it more closely and it struck my interest. I did some research and found out that it was a puddingstone. It would have come here from down south."

He said the rock could have only arrived here after being carried and dumped by a receding glacier during North America's last ice age.

A puddingstone, also known as zenolith, is a sedimentary rock that consists of a mixture of different, irregular sized grains and pebbles held together in a matrix of finer materials such as sand.

It was only after speaking with geologists at the University of Toronto that Robichaud felt some effort should be made to bring it to Timmins where others could see it for themselves

"They told me, 'If you ever get to move it, we'd like to come see it.' That kind of convinced me that more people needed to see this."

Robichaud was able to achieve this last week with assistance and support with the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority and the crane operating firm of RLP/CMS.

Last Wednesday, Leo Madore, crane operator for RLP/CMS and Robichaud spent six hours unearthing, hoisting, loading up, and relocating the huge rock using a 26-ton boom truck to Flintstone Park.

In keeping with its new location, Robichaud said the rock has been named Fred's PuddingstonDaily Press Story